


in which lance makes a decision, zarkon makes a comeback, and keith makes his own family

by viraseii



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Black Paladin Keith (Voltron), Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Confessions, First Kiss, I wrote this instead of studying, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, co-leadership klance, keith returns to the team, lance takes charge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-05-02 21:45:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14554188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viraseii/pseuds/viraseii
Summary: It starts with one simple message - a request from Lance that Keith come meet him. it broadens into a more complicated enemy than any of them previously anticipated.His friendship with Shiro. His encounter with his mother. His position as Black Paladin. And....Well.Lance.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> it was gonna be a klance oneshot but then it grew a plot
> 
> aka im dumping this onto the internet before the release of season 6 (which is LIKE ONLY A MONTH AWAY HOLY FUCK) shits all over my theorizing

Keith is nervous.

Lance's message is playing on repeat in his mind, and his imagination is going wild, twisting his simple words into thousands of possibilities. 

“I can send Lirian with you...”

“No,” Keith interrupts Kolivan. “I have to go alone. I’ll contact you in thirty vargas.” Kolivan nods.

Krolia grabs his arm, concerned. “Are you sure it’s really La-”

“I know what I’m doing.” He shrugs away from her and leaves, heading toward the hangars.

His heart is racing.

_Kolivan, I need you to let Keith know I need to talk to him. Don’t tell anyone else. I’ll meet him on planet U-98 in the Kuirgyn quadrant. It’s about Shiro._

If _anything_ has happened to Shiro, so help him-...

He’s probably fine, right? Keith starts up his ship.

If Shiro disappeared again, there would be a bigger deal about it. He’s pretty sure there’s no way the Blade wouldn't be kept informed.

So why is this so secretive?

Pretty much anything important regarding Shiro is equally important to the Blade. Keith sets his course for the planet Lance mentioned, following the coordinates Kolivan sends him.

If it’s not something important enough that the Blade has to be informed, then... it’s something just. Just like that.

So then what do they need him for.

Or, no - it’s not that - what does _Lance_ need him for. Keith is the last person Lance would ever reach out to regarding anything. If Lance has a problem, other than normal Voltron-related problems, then wouldn’t he be talking to Hunk? Or Pidge, or Allura, or... anyone else?

What’s the common ground between him, Lance, and Shiro?

Keith grits his teeth as he goes into warp.

So Shiro isn’t _hurt_ or in danger or anything. Unless something big has happened between Voltron and an enemy - maybe Lance is the only survivor, and he needs Keith for _some_ reason.... But, no, Lotor would definitely be there to help before the Blade. And if Lotor was compromised, the Blade would know.

So what is it??

Lance might have some questions for Keith, maybe. About Red, about being second-in-command under Shiro... maybe that’s it.

The thought relaxes him. It makes sense.

He sits back and lets himself just breathe. No sense in killing himself worrying over answers he’s about to find out in a few minutes anyway.

He pulls out of warp right outside of the atmosphere of U-98. Activates the scanner, looking for any irregularities in biorhythms - there’s something notable on the south half of the planet, currently in day. He pulls up long range, confirming that - yeah, that’s Red.

As soon as he acknowledges where she is, he feels her rising up in his mind, sensing and responding to him. He smiles, changing course.

Lance is waiting for him when he sets down. It’s raining. Lance has his head tilted up into the onslaught of water, and a smile graces his face as Keith steps out of the ship.

“Glad you came,” he laughs, turning to look in Keith’s direction and opening his eyes. “Spooky mask man.”

Keith hesitates, then deactivates his mask. “What’s wrong?”

Lance bites his lip, looking uncomfortable. “Can you come up with me?” He nods his chin up to where Red is standing proud.

Keith steps forward as she leans down. “What’s going on?” He follows Lance up, nostalgia prickling at his ribs as his eyes explore Red’s familiar interior.

“Okay. No one else knows about this. I didn’t know who else to talk to... but you know Shiro, and I need your help figuring something out. Also, you’re connected with Red, and Black, so maybe you’ll be better at this...” He blows out a breath.

Keith stares at him, uncomprehending, as Lance sinks into the pilot’s seat.

“Okay.” There’s a flash of light and then Lance is holding his bayard, and his other hand reaches out to lace with Keith’s. “Just... focus on Red. Let yourself into her headspace, yeah?”

“Uh, okay...” Keith frowns.

Lance inserts his bayard into Red’s dashboard, and Keith lets his eyes fall closed as power surges through Lance into him.

He’s seeing things. Flashes of light - he focuses harder. He’s been away from Voltron for a long time.

He faintly feels his connection with Black and leeches onto it, letting Lance’s grip on his fingers keep him pulling forward.

“Open your eyes, Keith...”

Keith fights his eyelids, forcing them up - for some reason it’s almost impossible.

Light and energy is whipping around him. He feels like he’s on the edge of a cliff, and he’s caught in a storm of quintessence and wind. It pulls on his fight-or-fight-harder instincts.

He’s standing in a beam of brilliant red, and around him is the energy of Voltron - pure quintessence, and... something else.

There’s a voice, on the wind, as everything gets unbearably bright.

“Lance...”

“Lance, It’s not safe..”

“You have to get Keith.”

And then it breaks, Keith falls off the edge of the cliff, and he’s surging back from everything, right back into the Red Lion’s cockpit.

Lance breathes in and out. “That,” he says. “Was Voltron. And the voice...”

“Is Shiro,” Keith says, not a single doubt in his mind. “What is he saying?”

Lance leaves his hand, reaching up to weave his fingers into his hair. “I don’t know!! He’s so hard to hear - he repeats things, he fades in and out - all I can feel is his _urgency_ , and like he’s fighting something.

Keith feels chilly. “Is he in trouble?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you just ask him?”

Lance meets his gaze. “Because the Shiro out here isn’t the same as the Shiro in there.” He must be expecting the confusion in Keith’s face, because he carries on without prompting. “At first I thought he was just struggling to get over the second time he was taken by the Galra. But this has happened several times - and every time, Shiro out here doesn’t remember a single thing. Shiro in there is trying to tell me something, but Shiro out here has no clue what that possibly is - they’re like different people.”

Something cold and worrying twists Keith’s gut.

“And it’s more than just that. Shiro’s... really self-oriented these days. He doesn’t listen to us... he makes his own decisions..”

“Well, he’s in charge. There’s a reason for that.”

“Yeah, but this is different from before!” Lance insists. “Remember that first day? We all looked at him for help when that wormhole opened, but he still told us to decide as a team. But recently if he doesn’t agree on something we say... he’ll just go do it himself. And it’s splitting the team.”

It does remind Keith of something - months ago, when he was focused on tracking down Lotor, and Shiro refused to listen to him. But Shiro knows what he’s doing, always.

“I think...” Lance looks nervous.

“..Yeah?” Keith prompts when he doesn’t continue.

Deep breath. “I think you need to come pilot Black again.”

Keith immediately straightens, a rebuttal already on his lips.

“We need you, Keith. Shiro isn’t the best suited for this right now. Not until we figure out what’s going on.”

“What makes you think I’m more qualified than Shiro??”

“Because you’re part of us! Shiro is - something’s wrong with him!”

Keith shakes his head, scoffing. “I’ll. Try to look into it. But I _can’t_ pilot Black.”

“You’re the true Black Paladin, Keith.”

Keith gives him a pleading look. Can’t Lance see....

“You forced her to accept Shiro. But I feel it, man - every time we form Voltron, I feel you everywhere, in Red, in Black... and we need you back.” There’s something desperate about Lance’s voice.

Keith... kind of wants to?

“I’m not a leader, Lance.”

“Keith.” Lance makes harsh eye contact with him, and Keith’s spellbound, unable to really look away. “It’s not you leading four pilots. It’s five of us acting as one. We can’t act as one with the way Shiro has been lately, and - you’re the solution.” He chews his lip. “If you won’t do it for me, at least do it for Shiro. You heard him yourself. He wants you to come back.”

Keith aches inside. He - he _can’t_ say no to Shiro. The man made Keith who he is - Keith owes everything to him. And he’s not going to say no to him.

“All right,” he says quietly.

“Because Shiro asked, huh?”

“... Because Shiro asked.”

Lance pouts a little. “We’ve missed you, dude.”

It wrenches at Keith’s stomach. “I’ve missed you too.”

“Lotor has this big plan for harvesting quintessence... I’m not sure I trust him.” Lance turns to the controls, moving to get Red ready for flight.

“Wait,” Keith says. “We’re leaving now?”

Lance looks at him. He sighs. “Okay, I haven’t told you the whole story.”

Keith gives him a look.

“I kind of maybe... knocked Shiro into a cryo-pod.”

Keith blanches. “What?”

“I needed you back! And the Shiro inside voltron is only there when the Shiro outside voltron is unconscious - and I knew there was no way you were going to listen to me, so I needed him here to convince you to come, also he was acting reaaaally shady...”

“And you said no one else knows?”

Lance winces. “Yeah, there’s going to be a bit of explaining to do when we get back to the Castle.”

Keith’s mouth parts in shock. ... _Lance,_ honestly. Keith’s a little surprised Lance managed to get this far, though, he’ll admit. “You’re crazy.”

He activates his mask again, connecting to his ship and setting it on autopilot back toward the Blade of Marmora base. “Kolivan, I’m going to be spending some time with Voltron,” he says into the comms.

“Is there an issue?”

Keith hesitates. He understands, now, why Lance is bent on keeping this so secret - there’s no solid evidence to go off of, at all. “It’s not important. But I’m not available anymore.” Red’s screens come to life, revealing the stormy atmosphere outside, touched with gold and teal from the colors of U-98.

Keith turns back to Lance, mask still in place. “Explain.”

Lance frowns. Red takes off. Keith grips the seat against the inertia of Lance’s usual reckless flying. “So, Lotor has recently been buttering up Allura to try to get her to use Voltron to go into the rift at planet Daibazaal and harvest raw quintessence. He says it’ll unify the Empire under him, and end all fighting - but I don’t know, the whole thing seems fishy to me. Shiro’s, of course, totally on board, but Allura thinks there’s a piece to this puzzle we’re missing. And it’s not really like Shiro to blindly go into things like this - I mean, wouldn’t you agree?”

Keith can recall a very specific moment at the Garrison where Shiro blindly bit into a fresh pizza and then spent the next ten minutes sucking on ice, but he decides that’s not relevant right now.

“Last time we had a disagreement, Shiro decided to go take Lotor to the Kral Zera on his own, which led to you almost getting blown the quiznak up.” Something strange enters Lance’s voice at that, but Keith can’t pick it out.

“But that’s what cemented our alliance with the Galra empire,” Keith insists.

Lance makes an impatient noise. “We already had plans! You already had plans - we messed up! So. I’m just... thinking out loud here...” he laughs nervously. “If you fly the Black Lion again it’ll accept you as its true paladin, and Shiro won’t be able to go off on his own with Black again.”

Keith frowns. “I mean... you already solved this problem by. _Freezing_ him.”

“I can’t explain that to them!” Lance trills. “Lotor’s been pushy lately, and everyone else is trusting him, but I’m not giving him any chances.”

“He saved my life,” Keith points out.

“Yeah, that was you being really stupid, by the way,” Lance huffs. “But Lotor’s acted against the Galra before. Remember all that weird stuff he was doing with the teludav and the comet? Back before all this? I don’t think he’s on anyone’s side but his own.”

Keith frowns.

“And, Keith...” Keith feels the shift in the atmosphere - from something confident and calculating to something hesitant and... hurt? He feels it through Red around him, Lance by his side... “Ever since you left, you’ve been... throwing yourself in danger... I mean, you were always kind of hot-headed and you never think about things, but...”

He looks uncomfortable. Keith feels uncomfortable. Red is uncomfortable.

“I mean... I don’t want you to die, Keith.” There’s a lot of emotion in that sentence.

Keith’s not sure how to navigate it. “We all risk our lives every day,” he says. “It’s war.”

“Well, not anymore, it’s really not,” Lance says. “But that’s not what I mean! You - never mind.” Frustration prickles through the air.

Keith smiles. “I’m all right,” he assures Lance.

Lance glances up at him, and then softens into a smile before looking back to Red’s screen.

Then he laughs. “I can’t believe you’re _here._ ” A flush crawls across his cheeks. “Like, honestly, I didn’t know what I was doing, I’m just... making this up as I go along.”

Keith snorts. “Well.... Seems like you’re just about as qualified as I am to pilot the Black Lion, then.”

Lance laughs. “No way. You do everything right. It’s annoying.”

“I’m no good at-”

“Dude.” Lance laughs. “You’re a good leader. You just need to trust yourself a little more.” He frowns. “I don’t get you at all. You never think twice about what you want to do, but when we ask you to lead, you suddenly get cold feet.”

“Well - I do what I think is best. I’m no good at... connecting with people, thinking for the team... or whatever.”

Lance smirks up at him. “Well, that’s what I’m here for.” He grins, turning back to the screen.

Keith can’t explain why, but that sends his stomach into knots.

The rest of the trip goes by in silence.

The trip from Red’s hangar to the bridge fills Keith with nostalgic comfort. This is one of the few places he can... actually call home.

All that goes away when the doors slide open and Allura is whirling on them, panicked and angry. “Lance!” she snaps. “Where - _Keith!_ ”

Lance winces. “Uh, surprise?”

“Keith!” Pidge yells, rushing up and barrelling into Keith. Her arms are squeezing him before he can fully process what’s happening, the breath whooshing out of him as he sloppily returns the embrace.

“Hey,” he chuckles. “I missed you too.”

“Oh, man, we haven’t seen you in forever,” Hunk’s voice is there, and then his arms are, pulling Keith in close. Keith’s in armor and it gets in the way, but his friends’ bodies are soft against him, and welcoming.

“It’s good to see you, Keith,” Allura beams at him. Then she turns her eyes to Lance, sharpening them into a glare. “But I have questions.”

Lance breathes in and out. “Okay. Um... Keith is back, and he’s piloting Black from now on.”

“What? Why?” Pidge frowns. “Not that this is bad news, but what happened to Shiro?”

“Where _is_ Shiro?” Hunk brings up, and the air turns anxious.

“Right,” Lance mumbles. “Shiro is... Um, Keith decided he’s better suited to lead than Shiro, so Shiro’s been dismissed.”

“What?” Allura says sharply. “Keith, what’s going on.”

Keith’s mouth falls open. “I don’t - I didn’t... Lance asked me to come.”

“Really?” Pidge laughs. “That’s a first.” She looks at Lance. “I know Shiro’s been kind of rough on you lately, but I don’t think switching lions all over again is the solution right now.”

“Rough on you?” Keith questions.

Lance flushes. “It’s not about that!” There’s something pained in his eyes. “He’s following Lotor’s every whim - Allura agrees with me, something’s off about this whole thing.”

Allura sighs. “We have touched on it before, but you’re the one that pointed out we’re on the same side, Lance.”

“Well.” Lance’s jaw sets. “Now I’m not so sure.”

“Wait,” Keith interrupts. “Shiro’s not an enemy.”

“Okay, that’s fine,” Hunk stresses. “But where _is_ he?”

“In a cryopod,” Lance says. “Don’t worry about it. I just want to... you know what Pidge said that one time Keith and Allura decided to go fly off on their own?”

“Isolating the variable,” Pidge says. “I still don’t follow.”

Allura breathes in and out. “Many of our problems lately have been due to Shiro’s opposition. Lance and I have both considered that perhaps... Shiro is not holding up our team dynamic very well.” She turns desperate. “Voltron cannot be divided. The universe depends on our coordination.”

“So you decided to mutiny?” Pidge says incredulously.

“This isn’t mutiny! This is us not blindly falling into whatever trap Lotor is trying to set for us!”

“Lotor’s on our side,” Hunk mutters.

“Is he, though?” Lance scowls.

“Okay,” Allura interrupts. “We’re getting nowhere.” She inhales deeply. “Welcome back to the team, Keith,” she says warmly. “We need to focus on our current situation. We cannot lock Shiro away into cryo-sleep on a mere suspicion. Lotor has asked us to meet him at planet Daibazaal in two movements.”

“But we’re not going to,” Lance says. “I still think this is a redirection of what Voltron’s real goal should be. We were supposed to take down the Galra empire, and now we’re allied with them - we’re helping them get _more_ quintessence.”

“I mean, when you put things that way they sound bad,” Hunk says.

“Because they are bad!”

Keith breathes deeply. Voltron is... disconnected. He can feel it - none of them are on the same page. He didn’t know things were like this.

“Okay,” he says. “I... I agree. The rift between realities is what started this entire obsession with quintessence in the first place. We can’t feed it more.”

Allura sighs. “We must find out more about Lotor’s motives,” she decides.

Pidge nods. “That’s fair.”

Lance smiles, relaxing. “Thank you, Keith.”

Keith doesn’t react. “Let’s go... talk to Shiro.”


	2. Chapter 2

Shiro is released with a whoosh of air, and he immediately cries out a surprised “-Lance?!”

Allura grabs him by the shoulders to keep him from losing his balance. “Shiro?” she asks. “There was a Castle malfunction.”

Lance looks ready to melt with relief at Allura’s protection.

“Malfunction?” he seeks out Lance, and then he focuses on Keith standing just behind him. “Keith? I- welcome back, what are you doing here?”

“I...” he hesitates. “I guess I just... I...”

“Keith felt the Black Lion calling out to him,” Allura says. It chills Keith how lies drop from her lips. He can't even _think_ of a good lie. "We were worried you were in danger, when Lance told us the pod shut on you."

"I just-" Keith cuts in. "Can we all... talk..? We need to figure out what Lotor is searching for."

Shiro hesitates. He sets a critical eye on Lance. "You should work on your clumsiness," he says awkwardly. "It's important now that you're learning short-range."

Keith ponders that as they all make toward the bridge. He frowns, noting Lance's expression as he sits down tiredly in the red chair. Something like. Inner turmoil.

Keith stops. Where... does he sit.

Shiro takes the black paladin seat. Keith settles for crossing his arms next to where Coran stands, allowing the man to clap him heartily on the back in welcome. Lance's eyes are roaming - they glance through contact with Keith, and he sends him a brief, instinctual smile.

"Lotor believes the way to satisfy the Galra empire is to provide them with sufficient quintessence," Allura begins.

Keith's already heard that spiel - "what do we know about quintessence?" he says instead. "Why does the empire have such a burning need for it?"

"Galra druids are able to convert raw quintessence into pure fuel for Galra use," Shiro explains. "It's an energy source."

"It's a life force," Pidge counters back. "It's like the force in Star Wars. It's not just fuel - it's life itself."

"Strange, Pidge," Allura says wondrously. "I read almost the same words in Honerva's diary back on the Galra Main Fleet." She shivers. "She originally discovered the true power of quintessence. Maybe there's part of the picture we're not seeing. She might hold the answers."

"Regardless of the other benefits of quintessence, though," Shiro points out. "Lotor's use for it is as fuel. It's what the Galra empire runs off of. Providing that source raw would eliminate the need for extracting it from planets."

"Does anyone, uh..." Hunk fades off. Shiro pays him no mind.

"Our goal is to protect the universe, and by providing a clean energy source we're saving it from consumption by the Galra Empire. Attacking the Empire was always just a form of addressing the symptoms instead of the problem." Keith nods. It makes sense. "So... Lotor's plan is to essentially... provide a better alternative."

"But it's not fixing the problem," Lance says cautiously. "Lotor wants to just replace one source with another."

Pidge nods. "Lance is right. The fact remains that the Galra are still thirsting for quintessence. And that's exactly what toppled the alliance between the Paladins ten thousand years ago."

"That banner..." Coran mutters. "It holds dear reminders of those peaceful days, but it rings with the chill of old betrayal. I think you should still exercise caution, Princess."

Allura purses her lips and nods.

"The past is gone," Shiro reminds them instead. "We have to focus on what's happening now. Lotor's plan is the best shot we have at ending ten thousand years of totalitarian rule."

"It seems simple enough," Keith murmurs. Lance's eyes flash toward him with something.

Hunk speaks up. "Does anyone remember the other reality we visited, with Scandinavian Shiro?"

Shiro raises an eyebrow. "Is this relevant..?"

"I-..." Hunk hesitates. "You know how obsessed they were with finding that comet. I just think it's a little eerily similar to what the Galra have been searchign for. And we know exactly what they planned to do with that comet."

"Well, Lotor already possesses that comet, and he has no plans of terrorizing universes across realities," Shiro sighs. "You're off-focus. We should try this plan and work from there. This is the most promising option we have."

Lance stands up. "This is what I'm talking about! What's wrong with you? The old Shiro was never opposed to looking for a better possibility, a better plan." His voice is distraut. "It doesn't seem at all weird to you that Lotor's basically manipulating us the same way Zarkon manipulated King Alfor?"

Allura gasps. Shiro's eyes harden. "Lance, I've already told you-"

"Whose side are you really on?" Lance demands.

Shiro stands as well. "Lance, that's _enough._ You're disrupting."

But what Hunk said is still resonating with Keith. He'd had a gut feeling from the start of that entire interaction - the Alteans were quite not who they said they were. And Keith's felt the same way about Lotor this entire time. The Blade, Shiro, Allura - everyone was trusting, but it kept rubbing Keith the wrong way.

"Shiro, maybe we should think about this," he says slowly. He looks up. "Why is Lotor really on our side? Is it for the Galra empire, or for access to the Lions?"

"Lotor is the emperor, he's working for his own people."

"He's been the emperor before," Pidge points out. "That didn't stop him from pursuing his own interests."

"He killed Zarkon," Allura says softly. "That counts for something."

"Yeah, if he killed his own dad, what do you think he'll do to us if he doesn't like our decisions?" Lance snorts.

"Lance, you're being closed minded," Shiro says. His voice is erring on annoyance. "Keith. You don't know the whole story, you don't know what you're getting into. This is simple."

"Shiro, I'm with them," Allura whispers. She looks to Coran for confidence. "I want to believe Lotor is on our side. But my father trusted Zarkon once."

"History repeats itself if we're not careful," Coran agrees. "We can schedule a meeting with Lotor, see if there's anything remaining in Honerva's work on the Main Fleet that can give us more insight."

"I can't authorize that," Shiro says sternly. "We're getting sidetracked."

"Fine, I'm authorizing it," Keith decides. He... he can just _tell._ There's something they're not seeing.

"Keith, you're not part of-" Shiro cuts off, his mind seemingly catching up with his words as Keith looks up at him in sudden panic. Not - not part of? Not part of _what?_ Of Voltron?

He struggles to come up with something to say. "I came back because this is important." Something tiny in his brain is nagging at him - he ignores it stubbornly. No time for abandonment issues now.

"Shiro, more information never hurts," Pidge says cautiously.

Shiro closes his eyes, mouth set in a frustrated line. "That's all right," he decides tensely, before turning from the room.

Keith trails after his back. His eyes go back to Lance. The paladin is slumped in his chair, idly standing his hand up on his fingers, shifting its weight from digit to digit.

He catches Keith's gaze and rises. "Glad we got that settled!" he stretches, then makes to move as well. Something in his posture is defeated.

Keith inhales deeply. "How soon can we contact Lotor?"

Allura turns back toward the screens. "I'll send him a message immediately. He should be open to allowing me to explore Honerva's lab some more. Keith..." she turns and gives him a soft, shy smile. "It's nice to have you back aboard. You can make yourself at home. I hope you plan on staying."

Keith nods. "For a little bit, I guess."

He has to figure Shiro out.

"I'm going to go spend some time with the Black Lion," he announces, turning and slowly heading out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was planning on writing more to make this chapter longer because i like consistency but fuck it this is gonna be my easy fic i'll try to update frequently cuz A&S is always gonna have new chapters around 10k so this one idc about the wc


	3. um sorry

i literally dont remember writing this or anything baout it or what my plans were so i'm marking this completed. i dont like deleting my works, but i won't be coming back to this sorry.

**Author's Note:**

> yeah honestly idk if im gonna continue this


End file.
